irk

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
He was like a fly condemned to spend his life in the irk-some society of the spider.

View all »
Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. transitive verb To be irritating, wearisome, or vexing to. See Synonyms at annoy.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (4)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Unfortunately with that endowment commonly comes another—namely, a tendency to avoid the irk or constant struggle by taking the line of least resistance; by adopting an opinion and upholding it in the face of all reason; and only a man of exceptional patience, courage and ability can keep himself free from the prejudices and fixed opinions which not only bring him a delusive peace and certainty but also are the means to worldly success. —  H. G. Wells
  • I am truly trying to like this, but there are just so many things to irk me. —  Lockergnome
  • So while I think it is annoying it does not irk me as much as it does Andy. —  Mousekingdom Blog
  • No difference at all -- except maybe one is an ex muslim ... who hired muslims on his election committee so as not to irk any muslims .. —  Propeller Most Popular Stories
  • Damn. and for that matter, the Rangers logo on the brick is going to irk me all season long —  Lone Star Ball
More examples »
 

Tags

irk hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 241 times.

2 people have marked this word as a favorite.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same contextWord Family

irk:   irked ·  irks
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English irken, to weary, possibly from Old Norse yrkja, to work, make verses, harangue; see werg- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English irken, yrken, erken = Middle High German erken, feel disgust, from Swedish yrka, urge, enforce, press, press upon; perhaps akin to L. urgere, urge: see urge.
  2. Middle English irk, yrk, irke, erke; from irk, v.
  3. from irk, v.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ərk/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a year.

Recently looked up

grants · inject · hauteur · reagent · Tagalog

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket